Philippines Festival - THE MASSKARA FESTIVAL of Bacolod City | Asyadan Mektup Var , Türkiye, Dünya, Ekonomi, Finans, Döviz, Borsa, Spor, Futbol, Basketbol, Sağlık, Kültür Sanat, Müzik, Sinema, Magazin, Moda, Bilim Teknoloji, dizi fragmanları, Tatil, Hava Durumu, TV, Canlı Yayın, Radyo, yemek tarifi, son bölü

Bacolod City, Philippines – The city is now celebrating its Masskara Festival 2010 which is the 31st Masskara Festival and the fun and excitement once again invade the streets of Bacolod. Masskara Festival, as known as the country's most colorful festival is also one of the most visited.

The Masskara Festival takes place yearly in every October 1 – 19 here in Bacolod City. Local and foreign visitors get a chance to enjoy 19-days of merry making, beer drinking, dining and street dancing. On the weekend nearest to 19 October, the biggest party in Bacolod is scheduled to take place. The festival was first envisioned from 1980 to add color and jollity to the Bacolod City's celebration of its Charter Day anniversary, on October 19.

The festival instills among the people the culture of escapism and obscurantism, where they have to accept and forget their sufferings caused by the exploitations and oppression of the landlords. It was intended as an encouragement to all to fight back and to keep smiling despite the problems and highlighted that hope still existed. The smiling masks have become the city's symbol, thus earming its tag as the “City of Smile.”

This annual festival, which has become one of Philippines best known tourist attraction, has been earning raves both from local and foreign tourists. Masskara Festival has also been judged the most beautiful and colorful festival among the various contingents from other countries.

HISTORY

In this city, people are encouraged by the organizers, mostly big business and hacenderos (big landlords), to forget the economic hardships and depression which happen especially during tiempo muerto (dead season, or off sugar harvest-milling season). Bacolod is the capital city of Negros Occidental, known as the Sugar Bowl of the Philippines and is part of Western Visayas in central Philippines.

Originally and ironically, the masks reflected the people's grief over the loss of their numerous loved ones when, in 1979, Negros Navigation's luxury liner MS Don Juan crashed with a tanker. Five years before, there was a big drop in sugar production. The people of Negros suffered from the excess of sugar in the world market caused by the Caribbean sugar crisis and the introduction of sugar substitute like the High Fructose Corn Syrup in the United States. All these led to the holding of the first Masskara Festival in 1980. Santiago's original proposal to hold annual parade using masks to capture the crisis in Negros, was changed by the local elite into street dancing and merry-making festival. The rich imagery of masks was used by the hacenderos and local politicians to hide the suffering of the Negrenses. From then on, Masskara Festival became one of the popular attractions in Negros, drawing thousands of people within and outside the country.